106 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [ April, 1905. 
12. The Monasteries of Tibet.*—By Rai Sarat Cuanpra Das 
Bahadur, C.1.E. 
INTRODUCTION. 
Tibet is the land of monasteries. Her history chiefly compri- 
ses records of the establishment cf monasteries and temples and 
their endowments by the State, chiefs and nobles of the country, 
commencing from the middle of the 7th Century A.D., to the 
18th Century. 
here are eighteen different Buddhist sects, out of which four 
are widely distributed all over higher Asia including Tibet, Mongo- 
lia and Western China, Of these four sects three, viz., Sakya, 
Diik-pa and Ning-ma have the red-cap, which they use during 
religious services only, to distinguish them from the remaining 
15 sects. The fourth which is the reformed sect and therefore the 
purest of all, has become dominant since the middle of the 17th 
Century. Its monks use the yellow-cap. The Dalai Lama is the 
head of this Church. 
In the official register at Lhasa, in 1882, the total number of 
monasteries belonging to the Yellow-cap Church was 1026 with 
491,242 monks. Out of this number, 281 monasteries belonged te 
the provinces of U and Tsang which constitute Tibet proper, 150 to 
-the provinces of Nyang, Lhobrag and Kong-po; 27 to Uppe 
8 : 
ellow-cap Church Lamas take the vow of celebacy, which 
circumstances precludes them from keeping female company. pe 
ny among them while residing abroad seldom conform them- 
selves to monastic discipline. 
e miserable pittance which the monks of even the State- 
supported monasteries get for their subsistence, hardly exceeds 
three Tanka, we, 13 Re.a month. Owing to this, about one-fifth 
There are few convents in Tibet and the numbe 
(Tsiinmo) in them is very small, While the largest monastert 
contains 10,000 monks, the largest convent can hardly count I 
* Compiled from Pagsam Jon zat and other Tibetan historical works 
